Meeting a Legend
by Whisperwill
Summary: Four children are en route to the North Pole. They're about to experience every child's dream: to meet the legendary jolly old Elf himself-Santa Clause! One shot.


**Disclaimer: Although it contains my fondest childhood memories, I don't own _Santa Clause in Coming to Town_. And I'm not making money off my nostalgia, either.**

**A/N: Predictably and originally completed 12/23/13, as a Christmas present for my sisters Wonderstorm and Driftingthought. Please let me know if I kept the ol' elf in character! Read 'n' REVIEW!**

**Meeting a Legend**

Icy claws gripped the landscape in the vicelike grip of Winter. The bitter wind drove sheets of snow before it. In the children's young lives, it was the worst storm they had ever seen. None of the four of them had realized how cold it was this far north. But then, it was the North Pole.

The climate here made their chilly Sombretown seem like a warm summer day. But the children had braved snow and high water to travel many days without a single complaint. For at the end of their journey, they knew what waited for them. The big castle, and the workshop where toys were made. The elves, the reindeer. And _Kris Kringle_.

"There's...nothing there, you know," a determined voice floated out from behind a muffler.

Well, there was _almost_ no complaining on the way. And _almost_ all the children were confident in what waited for them. There was one among their number who didn't believe, however. And this boy maintained that he was being dragged along on a trip he wanted no part of.

"We're going to p-_prove_ it to you," insisted the tallest, a girl with two braids down her back. Why he didn't believe in Kris Kringle, she had no idea. The evidence was all over Sombretown—the pictures, the mayoral laws, and the toys, toys, toys that seemed to burst out of every nook and cranny without end. Maybe because this little non-believer was new in town. Maybe because he hadn't yet received any toys in his stocking by the fireplace. Maybe that was why. There couldn't be any other reason. After all, he was the both the youngest and the littlest. He really should believe in Kris Kringle. Or Claus. She could never remember which name he went by now. "Y-y-you'll s-see." But her teeth were chattering so relentlessly, her voice wouldn't stay steady.

It was getting colder. The storm was just getting started. And it seemed like they still had such a long way to go.

* * *

Crumpled up on the front steps lay a wrinkled mass of nondescript cloth. Having thrown open the front door, about to step out into the blizzard, Kris Kringle scratched his red head. "What do we have here?" he wondered aloud. His eyes widened into blue pools when he realized that what lay in front of him was in fact four children. "Bless my newfound whiskers!" he gasped. "It's a bunch of young'uns!"

As though hearing the mention of themselves, the foursome raised their heads, weakly, from under the knitted blanket. "M-mister Kringle?" one of them stuttered.

"Come in!" the legendary elf-child boomed, reaching down, scooping them to their feet, and herding them past him. "Come in out of the cold!"

He didn't waste a moment, but called Jessica and Tante Kringle to help. Together, the two women got their unnanounced house guests undressed and bundled in blankets by the Kringles' roaring fireplace. Then they brought the laundry to the washbasins in the basement. As he passed by, Kris plucked a diamond-patterned stocking from the top of the teetering pile in his wife's arms. "Hmmm," he murmured, turning it over in his hand. "Cotty." He picked up another stocking. This one had a run in it. "Madeline. And," he finished, his eyes on a third woolen pair, "Little Tommy. What are they all—"

* * *

"—doing here?" Back upstairs and sitting amongst the children, Kris repeated his question in a louder, more demanding, voice.

"Well, Mr. Kringle," Cotty began to say.

Waving his hand and shaking his head, Kris interrupted. "And none of this 'Mr. Kringle' stuff, either. You know what name I go by now."

"Er, um, I mean, Mr. Claus," Cotty corrected herself. Here Kris sighed. She still wasn't addressing him quite right, but he allowed her to continue. "We—well, we came to see _you_."

"Why in the world would you want to do a thing like that?" Kris demanded to know. He folded his arms across his chest. "Couldn't you have waited a month or two for my next visit?"

"Well, you see, we had to show you to our friend." Pointing across the room, Cotty indicated a boy curled deep in an armchair. He was small for his age and had brilliant red curls.

"That couldn't have _waited_ a few weeks?" Kris pressed her.

Now Tommy spoke up. He was a quiet boy with straight brown hair who usually didn't say anything unless he felt it was very important. "But he doesn't believe in you!" he shouted. Kris seemed to think this was funny, for he chuckled as he got up from his chair.

"Doesn't believe in me? Well, I'm here, aren't I?" He twirled around once and bowed. "Plain as the nose on your face." His rakish grin was lost on the little redhead, who glared sullenly in the opposite direction.

"He doesn't believe you really come in the night to give us presents. He says you and your reindeer and your sleigh and your workshop are all just a bunch of silly stories," Tommy went on. "He doesn't believe you can do the things you say you can."

"Oh, he doesn't, eh?" Kris crossed over to the boy who seemed determined to dislike him. "Well, seems to me a man's got a right to believe what he wants." Tommy, Cotty, and young Madeline wrinkled their noses, but they wouldn't disagree with an adult outright/out loud. Kris extended his hand to the lad. "Well, hey, there, little feller. I don't believe we've met. People call me a lot of things, but the name is Kringle. Kris Kringle. What's yours?"

Silence and more scowls from the non-believer. Kris got down on one knee so that the boy would at least be forced to meet his eyes. "Have you got a name?" he whispered to the boy, as though there was some doubt. But no answer was forthcoming. Kris's eye twinkled. "Careful—if you won't tell me, I might just have to call you Carrot Top."

The boy's eyes flew wide open. But instead of reflecting understanding of the joke, they flashed with anger. With an angry grunt, he pushed past Kris Kringle and scampered out of the room.

"Well, I'll be," remarked Kris. For a moment, his boyish face fell, and he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I forgot...not everyone likes Santa Claus."

"_We_ like you, Santa!" Madeline shrilled right on cue. She pelted from across the room to latch onto his booted leg. "An' we miss you, too."

Kris lifted her up by her arms and propped her in the crook of his elbow. "There's a good girl." Cotty and Tommy came closer. Kris's draw on the children was automatic, magnetic.

"That's why we had to come." Cotty's explanation was addressed to her feet. "We never get to _see_ you anymore. You only come at night, when we're asleep."

"Well, if you miss me so much, why don't you wait up for me?" Kris asked the sensible thing.

Tommy blinked. "But our parents say you won't come till we're asleep in bed."

The youngest Kringle threw back his head and laughed. "Ho-ho-ho! Sounds like your parents don't want you staying up late." He grinned but didn't tell them that he would come to their houses whether they were sleeping or not. "Well, I can see whether you're asleep or not, that's for sure."

"You can see _us_," Cotty murmured, flashing him a shy glance. "But we never get to see _you_."

"Miss Jessica doesn' come to school...and you don't come to the fountain..." Madeline mornfully pointed out. SShe let out a few fretful sobs. Tommy bowed his head and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. Only Cotty remained brave.

"Hey, now." Kris pulled a handkerchief from somewhere in his red jacket and wiped Madeline's eyes. "What have I told you about gloomy faces?"

"We better not pout; better not cry," Cotty repeated his words of the previous year. She remembered them perfectly.

"That's right." Kris tweaked her braid fondly. He put a hand under Tommy's chin to tilt his face aloft. "So keep your chin up, you hear?" Impishly, he waggled his fingers to tickle along the crook of the boy's neck. Giggling, Tommy squirmed away. But not too far. "That's what I like to see," Kris declared, laughing.

At that moment, the front door was heard slamming closed, driven shut by the wind. Jessica blew in with the cold. Her cheeks were red and her eyes wide. "Oh, Kris! Come quick! One of those boys is on the roof!"

Kris let Madeline down and bounded for the door in a heartbeat. "Tarnation! What in the world is he _thinking?_" He put on his red hat and pulled it low over his ears. It was only with a marked struggle that he pushed open the door. "Stay with the kids, will you, Jess? I'll be right back." Gleeful at seeing their old teacher again but afraid for their comrade, the children clustered around Jessica while Kris disappeared into the howling white flakes.

* * *

It was Rudolph who had found the wayward lad. He was lying awkwardly on the roof with his legs folded under him. His nose was shining as brightly as he could make it go-a signal for the Clauss through the billowing white air. Kris ran like a white-tail and leaped jackrabbit-style onto the eaves, where he clambered up to his lead reindeer's side. Rudolph was shielding the boy from the freezing wind. Otherwise, he might be in much worse shape by now.

"Carrot Top!" Kris exclaimed. The boy's eyes flew open at the shout. Until then, he hadn't realized that Mr. Claus was there. "You are without a doubt the orneriest kid I have ever seen! Now let's get you down from here!" As he reached out, the boy shied away from him.

"Go away!" He pressed himself farther into Rudolph's side. "You're not magic. You don't come in the night to bring toys. You're just a hermit who lives at the North Pole!"

"I don't have to prove anything to you!" Kris bellowed over a particularly shrill gust of wind. "I just want to help you! We've got to get you down, you hear?" He pulled the little redhead to him, despite the lad's resistance. Though he fought to get free, he found himself tucked deep inside Santa's red coat.

As Kris started backing down the roof with care, the boy howled, "You don't care about me! If you did, you wouldn't have let my daddy go to jail!" Hearing this made Kris pause for an instant. But Rudolph's glowing hot nose prodded him in the shoulder to remind him of where they were. In one movement, the two of them leaped to the ground. Rudolph didn't need to be told to return to the stables. And Kris beat a hasty retreat from the storm back into his castle.

He took the child back into the living room and sat down with him in the chair closest to the fireplace. Luckily for him, his wife had taken the other three little scamps into the kitchen for some hot chocolate. "Now what's all this about? Who's gone to jail?" Despite the honest concern in his voice, the boy attempted to jump down from his lap. Kris wouldn't let him go though, and grabbed his wrist. "I'm not letting you out of my sight again, little feller," he told the boy sternly. "So you might as well tell me. What's going on?"

"Ngh...everyone says you're so...nnnh...nice. Ggh! But you're _not_." The little boy's rant was punctuated by grunts of effort as he struggled to get free of Kris Kringle. "My daddy...urg...believed in you, too. He...mmmh...told me that if I was...guh!...good, you'd come and bring me a...hnnn...a toy. But you _didn't! _I never got _anything!_" Maybe he was growing tired, for his attempts to squirm free were getting weaker. Soon, they stopped altogether. "Not only that, but when my daddy was putting away toys to hide them from the Herr Burgermeister, the soldier caught him! And he put him in jail! The soldier said we just moved to Sombretown, and already we're causing trouble." His voice began to get unsteady. "But it's not true! Daddy just moves a lot 'cause of work. He would _never_ cause trouble." Tears rolled down his rosy cheeks.

"Hey, now," said Kris softly. "Don't cry." He found another kerchief inside his coat and offered it to the child, who pushed it away. Kris used it to wipe his face, anyway. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get your daddy out."

The lad stared up at him in surprise. "You are?" Then he shook his head as though giving himself a reality check. "No, you can't! You _can't_ really do magical stuff and you _can't_ get my daddy out of jail." He had to crane his neck to shoot Mr. Kringle an indignant glare: his hopes would not be dashed again. "Don't say you can do things when you really can't."

"Now look here, Carrot Top," Kris admonished the boy on his lap. "Don't think you can tell me what I can and can't do."

"My name's not Carrot Top," mumbled the as-yet-unnamed little troublemaker. "It's Jacky."

"Jacky? Ho, ho." Kris was jolly again. He took the little hand in his own and shook it heartily. "Well, good to make your acquaintance, Jacky."

* * *

When the blizzard's fury had died away and the sun had returned, Kris led the four children out to his sleigh. They all watched in awe as he hitched his team of nine reindeer to their harnesses. Rudolph, at the head of the line, pawed the ground, eager to go. "That's the deer who found me," Jacky said in a whisper. Jessica was making sure that each of the children was bundled up well for the trip.

"Oh, be safe, now," she bade them. "Study your writing and your sums. Be good, children!"

"We'll miss you, Miss Jessica," the children replied together. The woman who was fast becoming the new Tante Kringle hugged and kissed each one of them goodbye. Kris lifted them into the sleigh one by one. He tucked mounds of blankets around them.

"Take care, children!" she called as her husband got in behind them. She kissed him last, on the lips. "Be safe."

"Aren't I always?" Kris replied saucily. He pointed at his team. "On, Dasher, on Dancer and Prancer and Vixen! On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen!" The sleigh started to move and pick up speed.

"But reindeer _can't_ fly," maintained Jacky.

"Shh! Be quiet and watch, Jacky!" Cotty told him.

"Oh, but they can," Kris answered him lightly. His hand came down on the boy's red head. "They can, and will." As he said this, the hoofs of the first three reindeer left the ground. Higher and higher they rose, until there was no more snow to crunch underneath them. The whole team, sleigh and all, was airborn.

"Gee whiz!" Jacky yelped. He grabbed onto the side of the sleigh, afraid of falling off.

"Don't worry, Jacky; you're safe with me!" Kris Kringle promised him.

"Wheeee!" yelled Tommy with spirit, and Madeline followed suit. Cotty laughed, joined by Santa Claus himself.

"Ho, ho ho! Sombretown, here we come!"

* * *

They touched down in the hushed streets of Sombretown. Even the reindeer's bells seemed muffled. By the old fountain where most of them had met Kris Kringle for the first time, the sleigh came to a stop. Kris helped the children climb out. "Now, time for all of you to get home and to bed. I bet your parents are worried about you." He wagged a finger at them. "And don't be crossing the Mountain of Whispering Wind anymore, do you hear me? Getting caught alone in a snowstorm is dangerous. And I don't want any of you to get hurt."

The children nodded up at him. "Yes, sir."

"Mr. Kringle? You're not going to put us on your "Naughty" list, are you?" blurted Tommy all of a sudden.

Kris squatted down to ruffle the boy's hair. "Now, I know you weren't being naughty when you left to come visit me. You just didn't know any better." He held up a warning hand. "But now you do, so don't let it happen again." The children nodded once more. Kris smiled at them all. "Good boys." He patted each of them on the head. "Good girls." They swamped him with one collective hug, knocking him into a sitting position on the snow. "Ho, ho ho!"

Clinging to him one last time, Cotty asked in a low voice, "When will we see you again, Mr. Claus?"

Kris's eye twinkled. "If you be real good, I'll bring you all new toys soon," he said, getting up and dusting himself off. "Now, skedaddle. It's time you were getting home." He took Jacky's hand. "Jacky and I have one more stop to make." The other three children left only reluctantly. Then Kris led Jacky straight to the town jail.

* * *

"Here it is," Jacky whispered in Kris's ear from where he was sitting on the elf's shoulder. They were outside the jail by one of the cells. Through the barred window, Kris could see a man sleeping. He held a finger to his lips to warn Jacky to be quiet, then tapped on the metal bars.

"Mr. Wood?" At the sound of his name, the big man stirred and woke up. When he saw who was at the window, he gasped and rushed over to them. "Sh, now, it's okay," Kris said for both their benefit, as the boy's father wondered what strange man was with his son, and Jacky was about to hurt himself, lunging through the bars to try to reach his father. "I'm the one people call Claus, or Kris Kringle."

"You—you're Kris Kringle?" Wood repeated in amazement. Although it was awkward for them both, he was holding his son as close as he could through the bars. "How did you meet my son, or know about me?"

"It's a long story, let me tell you," Kris replied. "But right now, we've got to get you out of here."

"How are you going to do that?" asked Jacky. Kris winked at him.

"Well, jailhouses need chimneys too, don't they?"

* * *

Kris had sprung Mr. Wood loose, and in no time at all, they were back at Jacky's family's house. Wood stopped to stroke his front door, moved by it all. Then he knocked. From inside, there was the sound of people stirring. "Anna." He risked raising his voice a little to be heard. "It's me. John."

"John?!" Within moments, the door was thrown open. A careworn but pretty woman stood there in her bathrobe. Her face crumpled, and with a sob, she threw her arms around him.

"Daddy! Daddy!" a mite of a girl squealed, dancing around. She came to a stop with her finger in her mouth when she saw the red-clad stranger. "Ohhh. _Santa_."

"Heya, Freckles," the aforementioned man greeted her softly. He hunkered down to grin at her. "You must be Jacky's sister." The girl hid behind her mother's skirt, from where she could peer at him in safety.

Anne and John turned to stare at him. "Are you the one who freed my husband?" the mother asked faintly.

"Yep. That's me," Kris confirmed. Anne wrung his hand in hers.

"Oh, bless you, sir!" she said fervently. "How can we ever thank you?"

"Well, I'll tell ya," Kris replied. "You can move all your possessions into my sleigh."

"Huh? But...I don't understand," Anne faltered. Her husband, though, seemed to understand what Kris was getting at.

"He's right, Anna. We can't stay here. Now that I've been in and out of jail...and us being new in town and all...we're marked for trouble."

"You mean we have to move _again_?" Anne cried.

"But Daddy!" Jacky protested.

"We have to, son," John said, his voice grim. "Don't worry. Everything will turn out okay."

"That's right," Kris piped up. "I'll take you somewhere safe. If we get out of here soon, no one needs to know." He put his hand on Jacky's head again. "Don't be scared, Jacky."

Together, the five of them packed everything into Santa's sleigh. Even Jacky's little sister Suzie carried her doll and tea set. It went fast, as most of their possessions hadn't yet been unpacked from the previous move. The family mounted the sleigh last of all. There almost wasn't room for Mr. Claus himself. But he managed to squeeze himself in next to John, while the little ones rode on their father's lap. Kris called to his reindeer again, and they were off. Their only stop before leaving Sombretown for good was at the town jail. Kris drove the team well past it, and then explained that he was stopping back for a minute.

"Why are you going back _there_?" Anne asked with a shudder. Kris passed the reins to John and vaulted out of the sleigh.

"Well, I'm here to announce who _really_ busted this criminal out," he answered, jaunty as ever. "Got to give credit where credit's due, after all." Deaf to the parents' protests, he marched over to the door and banged on it. After a while, the head jailor answered, scratching his stubbly head.

"Hello, there, my fine man!" Kris boomed, all the more energetic compared with the half-asleep jailor's blank gaze. "I'm sure you remember me, the famous Kris Kringle? Sorry to wake you, but I just wanted to let you know that if you find yourself missing a prisoner, you have me to thank for it." He turned on his heel and marched back to the sleigh. The head jailor still stood dumbly at the door. "Ho, ho, ho! Remember that name—Kris Kringle! And don't forget to behave yourself!" Kris called back out of the darkness.

"H-hey! Wait!" the jailor yelled. But by that time, Kris had gone, and the only sound in the cold air was fading sleighbells.

* * *

The reindeer team took them to a town several miles away. When they had landed in the outskirts, Kris helped them unload their things from the sleigh while little Suzie danced around in excitement, staring at the magical reindeer. Flying had been a wonder for them all.

At last, it was time for Kris to take his leave. He and John shared a strong handshake. "We can never thank you enough for what you've done for us," the muscled man said. His voice was husky.

Anne had tears in her eyes. "You've given me back both my son and my husband."

"No thanks are necessary," Kris answered. His eyes were twinkling again. "Just as long as you behave yourselves." He reached down to put his arm around Jacky. "Especially _you_, you little scalawag. Promise me you'll be a good boy from now on?"

Jacky put his arms around Kris's neck. "I promise." Although he knew they had to part ways, he lingered close by the legendary elf's knee. "I...I was wrong about you, Mr. Kringle. You _are_ magic. And you _do_ care."

"Ho-ho. Just glad you finally realized it, Jacky." Seeing that the red-bearded man didn't scare her brother, Suzie dared to creep close to him. "Well, what's the matter, Freckles? Do you want a hug, too?" Kris asked her. After twisting her foot in the snow for a moment, Suzie threw herself at him. She planted a kiss on his cheek before pulling away to hide behind Jacky. "Ho, ho, ho! Now there's a good girl!" Santa exclaimed. He grinned down at the two of them. "Be good while I'm gone. No pouting, no crying. Or else, I'll just have to bring your parents some goodies instead of you!" He smiled at the Woods. "What do you think they'd like? Some coal?" John and Anne nodded in agreement, but their children exclaimed in disgust.

"Ew, yuck!"

Jacky saluted Kris as he mounted his sleigh. "We'll be good, Mr. Kringle!"

"Yeah!" chimed in Suzie.

"How many times do I have to _tell_ you? Don't call me Kringle anymore! The name is Claus!"

"I mean, Mr. Claus!" Jacky hollered. Only his little sister got it right. She waved her tiny hand at the departing sleigh.

"Bye-bye, Santa Claus."

~* The End *~


End file.
